Day: October 29, 2009

What do they say about New York City: There are eight million stories, and sometimes it seems as though eight million of the people telling them think they're comedians? No, that's not it. It is a fact, though, that America's biggest city is also its biggest comedy mecca. Hollywood may be Hollywood, but New York City is where comedians are born funny, become funny or arrive to thrust their funny upon us. I think we should meet some of these people. This is a new recurring feature, a mini-profile of newcomers, up-and-comers and overcomers of New York's vibrant comedy scene. It's called Meet Me In New York. Today I introduce you to Rory Scovel, who I first read about when he entered Seattle's comedy competition in 2006 and made it to the finals with his unique set choices. This summer, he appeared at Montreal's Just For Laughs as a New Face, and this fall, he is a finalist in New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest (finals to be held Nov. 3 as part of the New York Comedy Festival). Photo of Scovel by Mindy Tucker. Name: Rory Scovel Arrival date: March 1, 2007 Arrived from: Washington, D.C.When and where did you start performing comedy? March of 2004 in Washington, D.C.What was your best credit before moving here? Live at Gotham on Comedy Central taped right when I moved up. Why did you pick NYC...

Eric Appel worked on MTV's Human Giant, and now Appel is a writer and director, making many of the exclusive Funny or Die videos that you find funny. Among the talent he's worked with for FoD: Adam West, Rob Huebel, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas Hayden Church, Kevin Bacon, Bob Odenkirk, Jon Hamm and Patton Oswalt. Here, Appel is talking to MakingOf about the art of writing sketch comedy, and he includes an example. Note: It's not Quiz Cab. But you're so, so close. And here is the newest FoD video Appel wrote and directed, about competing werewolf clothing stores. It stars Sean Clements, Brian Huskey, James Adomian and Noah Munck. Comedy nerds also will find bonus fun in one of the names contained therein. Hint: It's a very Inside Joke. Roll it! Clothing for Werewolves – watch more funny...

So, remember way back when, this morning, when I posted about ladies who want to be stand-up comedians and would they be worried more about their bodies than their jokey jokes? They were dealing with the possibilities. Chelsea Handler is living in the reality, as she is the new cover girl on Playboy magazine for December 2009; or, rather, someone resembling Chelsea Handler is on the cover. This is the Playboy cover. Someone doesn’t have to call the Airbrush Police, because Handler called herself out. This is what she looked like on TV last night on The Jay Leno Show, where Leno unveiled a giant cutout of the cover after interviewing Handler and firing several jokes at her about her older boyfriend, Ted, who just so happens to be the same Ted Harbert who runs Comcast Entertainment Group — which means not only does he also just so happen to be Handler’s boss, but potentially Leno’s new boss, should a rumored sale of NBC Universal to Comcast go through later this year. That was a long sentence, but… How many levels of awkward is that, exactly? Anyhow. Handler isn’t just on the cover, she’s also inside Playboy’s pages offering 20 answers to 20 questions, as well as offering her own guide to surviving the holidays (Warning: Links go to NSFW Playboy pages). The magazine itself doesn’t come out in print until...

Comedy Central announced today that Nick Swardson would debut a new weekly sketch show on the network in 2010. I felt like we already knew this, though, right? Oh, yes. Right. Swardson himself said as much back in May on his MySpace page, telling fans he was doing six half-hour sketch episodes that would include animated bits of Gay Robot (maybe Comedy Central already has forgotten that MySpace continues to exist?), and he also mentioned the new show during his recent Comedy Central stand-up special, Seriously, Who Farted? Production on the show will begin in November, with Swardson, Tom Gianis, Happy Madison and Sony Pictures Television as executive producers. The series will include the aforementioned Gay Robot animation, digital shorts, man-on-the-street segments and more. As Swardson said back in May: "It's more in the vain (sic) of Mr. Show and Human Giant. I'm so psyched. Gonna be DOPE."...

Drum roll, please? The other five finalists advancing to the finals of 2009's New York's Funniest Stand-Up contest are (in alphabetical order): Geno Bisconte, Stephanie Holmes, Vidur Kapur, Carmen Lynch and Mike Vecchione. They join Myq Kaplan, Gerald Kelly, Joe List, Matt McCarthy and Rory Scovel in the contest finals, to be held Nov. 3 at Carolines as part of the New York Comedy Festival. Who's your pick to...